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This week's photograph is of the Brooklin Flour Mill, taken in 1930. The mill at this loca: tion at Cassels Road East and the Lynde Creek was originally built of wood in 1840. It was own- ed by Robert and John Campbell and Daniel Way, and was powered by water from a Mill Pond located where the Meadowcrest subdivi- sion now stands. When the frame building burned down in 1847, Way gave up his part- nership and the Campbell brothers had George Sonley, a local contractor on Taunton Road, construct the brick building that still stands to- day. The mill went through several owners in the late 1800s and was purchased by the Wilson family of Brooklin in 1919. It was the Wilsons who put electrical power in the mill and disbanded the mill pond. The mill is presently * owned by Jim and Jane Hughes. A... I arrived at the office recently to find a nice surprise waiting for me. One of my readers, obviously knowing I am a bit of a history buff, had left a little bundle. It contain- ed a few scrap sheets of the Toronto Globe and Mai! from Saturday, August 29, 1936. I could hardly believe these scraps, and that's exactly what they were, had survived for over 50 years. I was particularly interested in some of the advertisements contained on the pages. They were probably the cat's meow back then, but I couldn't help smile over a few of them. For instance, Swans Down Cake Flour, touted as being 27 times finer than ordinary flour. : Then there's the ditty that says ... 'whiz ... This snow is real snow ... not too soft and not too hard ... just like it's been re-texed."" Honest folks, that's what it said. And would I lie to you? Heaven only knows what re-tex is, or was, but it was obviously a household word in its day that needed no explanation other than its name ... sort of like saying Coke or Pepsi today, I guess. There was also Yonge-Bloor Hairdressers who were advising customers to beat the holi- day rush, by offering a pre-Christmas special of a steam process permanent wave for $2.95 (regularly $7.50). Now that's some price. And I will never again criticize today's merchants for rushing the Christmas season. Even they don't peddle jingle bell time in August. But back to this perm. According to the ad, a steam process permanent means no direct heat, no cumbersome weights, lasts longer, looks better, and takes only 90 minutes with or without an appointment. Sounds in- teresting, what ? Check out some of these prices from the grocery shelf. A 26 ounce jar of peanut butter 24 cents; a box of salt .. no size mentioned ex- cept it was a round box, for five cents, horseradish for eight cents a bottle; a large package of Arm and Hammer washing soda Viewpoint by ROXANNE REVELER was five cents; Grape Nut Flakes sold for 12 cents a box and a 32 ounce jar of jam was an incredible 19 cents. No wonder everyone could afford to eat well. Speaking of eating well. There was a col- umn on the women's page by an Aylmer Mac- pherson, whoever he was when he was home. But whoever he was, he sure had lavish tastes compared with today's average bill of fare. I won't bore you with the menus for the en- tire week as proposed by good old Aylmer, but here's Sundays, just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Here goes .... Breakfast -- melon balls, date and nut muf- fin, cocoa. Dinner -- bouillon, Maryland - chicken, parsley potatoes, stuffed tomatoes, baked beet and horseradish salad, peach Melba, tea. Supper -- cucumber and mint sandwiches (I feel like throwing up at the mere thought .of this one), celery, olives, crackers and cheese, angel cake with fruit, coffee. Now, can you beat that? Aylmer does not, of course, indicate what army of chefs the poor woman is supposed to bring in that day, or any other for that matter, but I suppose that was the good old days when wives had nothing else to do but cook. Don't get on my case you feminists, I was only joking .... well, partly anyway. One thing about a lot of the ads in this old paper -- they were truly explicit in the description of what their product was going to do for you if you only had the sense to buy it. Again, one example. This one was for Dr. Wood's Norway Pine Syrup. It read as follows "Get a bottle of Dr. Wood's Norway Pine Syrup from your druggist or dealer. It strikes at the foundation of the trouble. A few doses will convince you it is just the remedy you re- quire." Hold on, the best is yet to come, as we read further .... "It helps to stimulate the weakened bronchial organs, allays irritation, subdues inflammation, soothes and eases the irritated parts, loosens the phlegm and Reflections of a golden age by Mabel M. McCabe In October, we lost the most senior resident of our building. Mrs. Goodall was one hundred and one years old and very self sufficient. | did not have the pleasure of knowing this lady well, but her reputa- tion was a talisman to all of us who are following along the road of growing old. She will be missed by her family and all of us who w ere given hope for the future by having her in our presence. She has given me the topic for today. In her day, women had to be strong and she established that in her life angi made a iong suc- cess of it. It's hard to realize that there are people around now who feel that the old should be packed off into nursing homes at the slightest sign of some illness. They can find no caring or compas- sion for someone who has been on this earth longer than they have. Some even show real antagonism to the seniors in their midst. Who are the seniors of today? We are the ones who watched as the depression decimated our country and the jobs of our friends and relatives. We are the ones who read of the farmers in the west watching as their farmland blew away. We are the ones who sent our brothers and husbands away to war to make Canada a safe place for those who now reap the benefits. | believe my fellow-over-sixty compatriots are very self reliant and independent. We feel that if we are capable of doing all the above, we are capable of running our lives. It's an irritant when somebody else tries to tell us how to do the things we have been managing for years. A strange thing happens when someone with a neqative attitude is around me. | sense a difference in aura and atmosphere of my sur- roundings. The past few months this has happened in our building and | hope it does not bode ill for those of us who have been happy and really made a true home here. | know some people my find it hard to understand what | am try- ing to say. Basically it is that the old are not necessarily incapable + of doing or caring for themselves even if they have some iliness. They should not be shouldered with the fear that they may have to change addresses. Mrs. Goodall was a woman of thirty-two when | was born, and it is staggering to think of all the history she saw during her long life. She was around for the first women's vote. She lived through the great influenza epidemic after the first World War. She must have surviv- ed many hardships and celebrated many triumphs. I'm sure she has reaped a truly just reward now that she has gone to a well-earned rest. This woman is proof positive that all over sixty do not belong in special homes. She shows that life can still be a wonderful, joyous affair if others allow it to be. Yes, it is true that there are some who need that extra help that is given in a nursing home, but let us not make all seniors feel that if they cannot carry a heavy bag too far, they are unfit for life outside a home. We have many forms to fill out to make sure that we can cope ~ and we do it gladly. | think it is unfair to change some of the standing rules without first talking with those who are directly affected by the changes. Those in authority should have the consideration to call meetings before changes that will alter the style of life for many seniors. RR sce sek a LE. al... mucus, and aids nature to dislodge the morbid accumulations. Now how could you pass that one up. Sounds even better than penicillin, and more likely than not was at least its forerunner. Wish they sold something like that today. Seriously, though. There were many great articles in those lit- tle piles of papers, some of which totally surprised me. Such as the one advertising homeowners to install air condi- tioning. And the one about the benefits to health of using humidifiers. Funnily, I had always thought of both as modern day inventions, not realizing they had been around for over 50 years. Being a Toronto newspaper, almost all of the information contained in the tattered shreds I read, concerned Toronto peo- ple. But there was one article, which I presume accounted for the paper being tucked away in the first place, which pertained to local residents: Headed 'To Wed Today," it showed a photograph of a young man and woman and underneath was the following cutline ... "Miss Dorothy David- son Miller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Miller of Ashburn, Ontario and Mr. Frederick Dur- nan, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick John Durnan, Niagara Falls, Ontario, whose marriage takes place at Burns Presbyterian Church, Ashburn, Ontario this afternoon. It would be interesting to know if this couple are still alive and still wed after all these years. I wondered as I read of their impending marriage, if for once they ever gave thought that their announcement would be read by someone yet to be born in a country thousands of miles away, some 50 years later. Rather strange how fate works. I have absolutely no idea who the lady was who dropped those old newspapers into my office as she did not leave her name, but I want her to know how greatful I am. Thank you.